EARL NORTH was born in Haskins, Ohio in 1904. He married Vardinique Crozier in 1926 and took up painting the same year after Vardinique gave him a sketch box for Christmas and introduced him to Karl Kappes, one of Toledo's finest artists and teachers. Earl and Karl Kappes became close friends and painted together until Kappes' death. He also studied under Carl Gaertner of the Cleveland Institute of Art and participated in summer workshops with Emile Gruppe in Gloucester, Massachusetts and Harry Ballinger of the Rockport Art Association.

He began exhibiting work in 1932 when his oil painting was accepted into the 14th Annual Toledo Federation of Art Society's Juried Show at the Toledo Museum of Art. His creativity flourished throughout a sixty-three year period. North's favorite subject was the Maumee River in Northwestern Ohio, but he also drew inspiration from Northern Michigan where he vacationed each summer and from locales in Maine and Vermont.